The Red Devils confirmed in the afternoon that Pogba had picked up a sickness and that Under-23 midfielder Ethan Hamilton would replace the Frenchman in Mourinho’s first-team squad for the FA Cup fifth round tie.

Mourinho will be sweating over Pogba’s fitness, with United travelling to face Sevilla in the Champions League on Wednesday evening.

Mourinho labeled speculation of a rift with Pogba as ‘b*******’ on Friday but admitted that the midfielder had struggled for form in recent weeks.

Asked about his relationship with Pogba, Mourinho replied: ‘I think you are nice with your words because when you say a lot of speculation you should say a lot of lies because I accept and can speak on Paul’s behalf without any kind of problem.

‘Paul accepts he has not been playing well but that’s all and if you want to speak about it that’s one thing and speculation your words makes a little bit of sense but the majority of things you can read and listen, don’t be polite, be objective and say lies.

‘I don’t have to speak with you about my conversations with my players, is my problem, the player’s problem, a big lie that our relation is not good, that we don’t communicate, that we don’t agree with his positions and his involvement in the dynamic of the team so be objective and say what we all know.

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‘In the last couple of matches he didn’t play well period, end of story, now it’s my problem and Paul’s to improve his performance level, you don’t need to be a liar.’